Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-06-25

with voice, and money, ana influence,
all on the right side, and some carica.
ture him, and some sheer at him, ana
some denounce him, and men who pre-
tend to be actuated by right motives
conspire to cripple him. TO cast him
out. and to destroy him, | say:
stephen stoned" When | see a man
in some great moral or religious reform
battling against grog shops, exposing
wickedness in high places, by active
means trying to purify the Church and
better the worlds estate, and l find
that the newspapers anathematize him,
and men, even good men, oppose him
and denounce him because, though he
does good, he does not do it in their
way, | say: Stephen stoned" The
world, with infinite spite, took after
John Frederick Oberlin, and Robert
Mofat, and Paul, AID Stephen of the
text. But you notice, my friends, that
while they assaulted him they did nc,
succeed really in killing him. You
may assault a good man, but you can
not kill him. On the day of his death
Stephen spoke before a few people in
the SanhedIm; this Sabbath morning
he addresses
L CHRISTENDOM.
Paul. the apostle, stood on Mars
Hill addressing a handful of philoso-
piers, who knew not SO much about
science as a modern school girl. To
day he talks to all the millions of
Christendom about the wonders of
.,-t;HontsDr ,,I ~, rlnr;ao &c on,
r%ectisn. John Wesley was howled
down by the mob among whom he
preached, and they threw bricks at him,
and they denounced him, and they JOS
tied him, and they spat upon him, and
yet to-day, in all lands. he is admitted
10 be the great father of Methodism.
Booths bullet vacated the presidential
chair, but from that spot of c%oagulated
blood on the floor in the box of Ford's
theater, there sprang up the new life
of n nation. Stephen stoned; but
Stephen alive
Pass on now, and see Stephen in his
dying prayer. His first thought was
not how the stones hurt his head, or
what would become of his body. His
first thought was about his spirit.
Lord Jesus receive my spirit" The
murderer standing on the trap-door.
: the black cap being drawn over his
t head before the execution, may grimacs
: about the future; bat you and l have
: no shame in confcssing some anxiety
l about where we are going to come out.
S You are not all body. There is within
you a soul. | see it CLEAN from your
eyes to-day, and | see it irradiating
your c~ountenapce. Sometimes | an
a abashed before an audience, not be
cause | come under your physical eye
Il sight, but because | realize the truth
I that | stand before so many
IMMORTAL SPIRITS.
The probability is that your body will
0 at least find n sepulture in some of the
cemeteries that surround this city,
There is no doubt but that your oh
y sequies will be decent and respectful
e and you will be able TO pillow your
head under the maple, or the Norway
spruce, or the cypress, or the blossom,
e ing fir; but this spirit about which
/ Stephen prayed, what direction will
n that take9 What guide will escort it
What gate will open TO receive it!
What cloud will be cleft for its path,
q way? After it has got beyond the
light of our sun, will there be torches
a lighted for it the rest of the wayP vii
the soul have to travel through Ions
o deserts before it reaches the good land
If we should lose our pathway, vii
there be a castle ut whose gate we may
5 ask the way to the cityp o, this mys
e ~terious spirit within us! 1t has two
c wings, but it is in a cage now. 1t is
q locked fast to keep 1t; but let the door
l. of this cage open the least, and thai
d soul is off. Eagles wing could no
y catch it. The lightnings are not swift
enough to take up with 1t. When tn,
soul leaves the body it takes fifty
worlds at a bound. And have / nc
anxiety about itp Have you no anxiety
about itp | do not care what you dc
with my body when my soul is gone
or whether you believe in cremation OF
inhumation. / shall sleep just as vel
e in a wrapping of sackcloth as IN satir
k lined with eagles down. But my sou
y before l leave this house this morn
ing l will find out where it is going to
q land.
THANK GOD
;. for the intimation of my text, that wher
we die Jesus takes us. That answer,
u all questions for me. What though
there were massive bars between here
e and the city, Jesus could remov them
g What though there were great Saharas
of darkness. Jesus could illume them
What though l get weary on the way
r Christ could lift me on his omnipoten'
. shoulder. What though there were
: chasms to cross, his hand could trans
port me. Then let Stephens prayer
be my dying litany: lord Jesus, re-
ceive my spirit" 1t may be in that
hour we will be toe feeble to say the
1 Lords prayer, for it has sever petitions.
= Perhaps we may be too feeble even to
. say the infant prayer u mothers
taught us, which John Quincy Adams,
seventy years of age, said every night
when he put his head upon his pillow
t "Now l lay me dow to sleep,
/ pray the lord my soul to keep"
We may be too feeble to employ
either of these familiar forms; but this